1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and a method for reporting and tracking one or more parameters such as time or sales, or for placing orders, etc., especially where the person or organization that creates the report or order is remote from the person or organization that is to receive and process the report or order.
2. Description of the Related Art
Much of ones work life is tracked and measured. Time cards, time sheets, time clocks and time-tracking software, for example, are features of the modern workplace that are seemingly as unavoidable as the hierarchies that require them. Consequently, following a routine repeated daily by millions in almost every industrialized country, those whose time is to be reported complete a report such as some type of card or sheet or physical or on-screen form. The report is then passed to one or more other people, such as a payroll or billing clerk, a project manager, etc. The data on the report is then usually entered manually into some type of bookkeeping or similar tracking software.
This conventional process is, however, as rife with possibilities for error as it is widespread. For example, every time someone must enter information, be it numerical or textual or both, manually onto paper, there is the possibility of error, since someone else will usually later have to read and interpret what has been written. The likelihood of error is often lessened when using time cards that are punched by machine, but even then the chance of error is not eliminated, because as soon as the data on the card is entered manually into a tracking system, there is a risk of misinterpretation or simply just typing errors. Moreover, even if everyone in the chain of reporting were infallible, the process itself contains an unavoidable inefficiency whenever reported data must be reentered into a tracking system—the very need for data reentry requires both time and an employee to do the reentry.
One way to reduce the need for data reentry would of course be to have the employee enter data himself into the tracking system. The disadvantages of this are, however, plain. First, the employee may not be comfortable with or competent in using the time-tracking software, especially if the software is based on a web browser. Second, even assuming that every reporting employee has convenient access to a suitable computer terminal, it would be wasteful to load multiple copies of the time-tracking software into each terminal. The alternative of having several employees having to share a single instance of the software to report their time, for example, late on a Friday afternoon, would arguably be even worse.
As if the traditional scenario of a worker reporting time to an employer were not bad enough from the standpoint of inefficiency and probability of error, one increasingly prevalent aspect of modern employment compounds the problems even further, namely, the practice of hiring contract workers, who are frequently referred to as “contractors.” In this arrangement, an employment agency places one or more contract workers with one or more client employers. The workers include legal employees of the agency, contract employees, or both, and are assigned to work at tasks for the clients. The workers are usually, but not necessarily, physically present at the place of business of the clients as they do their work. The clients then pay the agency for the services of the contract workers and the agency itself pays the workers. This arrangement is now found at almost all levels of both the manufacturing and service industries, for almost all types of employees, from day laborers at construction sites to highly skilled programmers at major software development companies. Indeed, even the task of recruiting new permanent employees is sometimes performed by contract employees.
The arrangement agency—contract employee—client is therefore closely analogous to the arrangement general contractor—sub-contractor—client used elsewhere. Indeed, in many cases, the contract employees are considered “sub-contractors,” legally independent of the agency; in these cases, the agency may help the contractor find clients, it may handle the placement, and it may take care of certain administrative functions such as time-keeping, leaving the contractor responsible for paying for her own benefits, paying self-employment taxes, etc.
The addition of a third party—the agency—increases the complexity and likelihood of error not only of the time-tracking procedure, but usually also of the information that needs to be reported: The most immediately obvious complication is physical—the time reports in almost every instance must be sent from one facility, for example, the client's, to another, that is, the agency. Moreover, both the agency and the client will typically want to be able to access the time reports, often for different reasons. The client, for example, will typically want to be able to audit the reports as needed, whereas the agency must also have the data in a form suitable for its own purpose of paying reporting workers, be they employees or contractors. The client may, moreover, also want to be able to make sure the agency receives comments concerning the reporting worker, for example, concerning her performance.
Because an agency, especially a successful one, often contracts its employees out to many different clients, it is unlikely that all clients will have the same software that the agency prefers. Moreover, most clients will be loath to taking on the task of tracking time themselves, or to load into their own computers a software package provided by
If paper forms are used to report time, then the contract employees must get them to the agency in some way. Requiring the employees to drop off the forms in person is inconvenient at best and at times impossible. Sending them by mail introduces delay and the risk of misplacement and loss. Even assuming no delay or loss, these solutions still require manual data entry, which itself leads to the drawbacks mentioned above.
Because the modern world is full of reports and orders, the problems identified above in the context of reporting time arise in other contexts as well, where other parameters than time must be reported instead of, or in addition to, time. For example, employees must often file expense and travel reports, or sales reports.
Moreover, parameters such as time and expenses are not the only types of information that frequently need to be reported. Employees or affiliates may need to file reports concerning the progress of projects, or the status of inventory, for example, or vendors may wish to send bills quickly in order to speed up the payment process.
Furthermore, similar problems occur even in contexts where the one reporting information is not in any way associated with the recipient of the report. This will often occur in the case of processing of customer orders. As is well known, one option offered by today's technology is on-line ordering via the Internet. However, not all companies have, or wish to have, a web site, and not all potential customers are comfortable with the thought of placing orders over such an insecure channel. Moreover, high-tech, on-line ordering and order processing are not always appropriate. For example, it would in most cases be too time-consuming and tedious to expect several co-workers in an office to have to go on-line and fill in browser-based forms simply to place advanced orders for lunch at one of their favorite restaurants.
What is needed is therefore a system for reporting information such as time worked, expenses, inventory, orders, etc., that is easy to use, that does not require the user to have specialized technology available, that allows for easy verification, that eliminates the need for manual data reentry, and that is readily adaptable to many different reporting contexts. The system should be flexible enough to handle three-party situations such as, for example, those involving contract workers or sub-contractors. This invention provides such a system, and a related method of operation.